Bickle is a luminary of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement, the tenets of which provide that God can present followers with additional revelation beyond Scripture, empowering church leaders like Bickle with the status modern-day prophet. NAR follows Dominionist doctrine, which holds that Christians can and should exert influence and control over every aspect of society, including government.

In 1999 Bickle founded the Kansas City, Missouri-based collective IHOP, which the Texas Observer has described as “a sort of command headquarters and university for young End Times enthusiasts.” IHOP is known for recruiting young Christians to participate in a nonstop, 24-hour prayer vigil, and convincing them that they will become leaders of God’s army in the End Times. The group has courted controversy that it is a cult. Rolling Stonereported in 2014:

IHOPers pray all day and night, through blizzards and blackouts, in hours-long sessions of mesmeric, musical worship, repeating the same phrases over and over, expecting to precipitate the Great Tribulation and the final battle between good and evil that precedes the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

“I am grateful for Mike’s dedication to call a generation of young people to prayer and spiritual commitment,” Cruz said.

Bickle has also called Oprah a harbinger of the apocalypse, condemning her a “pastor” of the “Harlot Babylon,” which is “preparing the nations to receive the Antichrist.” He has cited her mission to “feed the poor, have humanitarian projects, [and] inspire acts of compassion for all the wrong reasons,” as basis for his claim.

Bickle joins the long listof radicalpastorswho have thrown their weight behind Cruz. “With the support of Mike and many other people of faith, we will fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith,” Cruz said.